HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Chaos erupted as a tense scene unfolded on video from a drone, capturing the moment a suspect opened fire on two deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
“His intention was clear—he aimed to end the life of a deputy sheriff,” stated Sheriff Chad Chronister with a tone of grave concern.
As of Thursday, those brave deputies were on the mend at Tampa General Hospital, a recovery aided significantly by the rapid intervention of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
“We had two rescues and two ambulances on the scene equipped with paramedics within just 7 minutes,” reported Rob Herrin, Chief of Public Safety at HCFR, highlighting their swift response.
Herrin said they started rendering care immediately, but they knew they needed to get the deputies to the hospital.
“We made the decision that, you know, to get them to Tampa General Hospital the fastest would be by air and in short order, we had two helicopters inbound,” Herrin said.
HCSO’s helicopter video showed the landing zone they set up on the southeast corner of Shell Point Road and U.S. 41. Herrin said 33 minutes after the first paramedic was there, the chopper was in the air, headed to TGH.
“That’s pretty good. That’s good turn around,” Herrin said. “Our paramedics, they knew the mission and they carried it out. They rendered aid to those deputies very quickly, got them to the landing zone and continued to care for them until that that helicopter was on the ground.”
Sheriff Chronister expressed his gratitude for the way HCFR stepped into the chaos and got the job done.
“Our deputies, no doubt are alive and in better medical condition because of the care that they received under the guidance and medical supervision of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue,” Chronister said.